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"Ken Loach's Kes perfectly illustrates the alienation, forlornness, and disillusionment of childhood. Tormented by his older brother, abused by his teachers, and harassed by his schoolmates, a young working-class Yorkshire boy named Billy (David Bradley) finds solace in caring for a wild kestrel.

Loach contrasts shots of the hawk flying freely with a grim industrial landscape of factories and mines. Despite the overt symbolism of the bird, the film never feels contrived or hackneyed. Loach's great accomplishment is that he manages to illicit pathos without relying on cheap sentimentality.

Though the film is relentlessly bleak, there are moments of comic relief (most notably the football scene), and Billy retains some glimmer of resilience until the very end." - Harrison Sherrod, Cine-File